BILL NUMBER: SB 16	CHAPTERED  06/01/99

	CHAPTER   30
	FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE   JUNE 1, 1999
	APPROVED BY GOVERNOR   JUNE 1, 1999
	PASSED THE ASSEMBLY   MAY 13, 1999
	PASSED THE SENATE   MARCH 22, 1999
	AMENDED IN SENATE   MARCH 3, 1999
	AMENDED IN SENATE   JANUARY 14, 1999

INTRODUCED BY   Senator Burton and Assembly Member Villaraigosa
   (Principal coauthor:  Senator Solis)
   (Principal coauthor:  Assembly Member Granlund)
   (Coauthors:  Senators Baca, Chesbro, Karnette, Murray, Perata, and
Sher)
   (Coauthors:  Assembly Members Alquist, Aroner, Calderon, Dutra,
Floyd, Havice, Keeley, Knox, Lempert, Longville, Pescetti, Romero,
Steinberg, Washington, Wildman, Wiggins, and Wright)

                        DECEMBER 7, 1998

   An act to amend Sections 1773 and 1773.1 of, to add Section 1773.9
to, and to repeal Section 1773.8 of, the Labor Code, relating to
public works.



	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   SB 16, Burton.  Public works:  prevailing wages.
   (1) Existing law requires the body awarding any contract for
public work to include in the contract specifications a requirement
requiring the payment of travel and subsistence payments to each
workman needed to execute the work, as those payments are defined in
the applicable collective bargaining agreements.
   This bill would repeal this provision.
   (2) Existing law requires, except for public works projects of
$1,000 or less, that workers employed on public works be paid not
less than the general prevailing rate of per diem wages for work of a
similar character in the locality that the public work is performed,
and not less than the general prevailing rate of per diem wages for
holiday and overtime work fixed, as provided in specified provisions.
  Existing law requires the body awarding a contract for public work
to obtain from the Director of Industrial Relations the general
prevailing rate for holiday and overtime work in the locality in
which the public work is to be performed.  Existing law specifies
that the holidays upon which the prevailing rate of per diem wages
shall be paid need not be specified by the awarding body but shall be
all holidays recognized in the collective bargaining agreement.
   This bill would provide that the holidays upon which the
prevailing rate of per diem wages shall be paid shall be all holidays
recognized by the applicable collective bargaining agreement and
that if the prevailing rate is not based on a collectively bargained
rate, the holidays upon which the prevailing rate shall be paid shall
be as provided by a specified provision of existing law.
   This bill would specify the methodology that the Director of
Industrial Relations is to use to determine the general prevailing
rate of per diem wages in the locality in which the public work is to
be performed, including the rate for holiday and overtime work.
   (3) Existing law requires that the representative of any craft,
classification, or type of worker needed to execute a public works
contract entered into with the state to file with the Department of
Industrial Relations fully executed copies of collective bargaining
agreements for the particular craft, classification, or type of work
involved for the purposes of determining the per diem wages.
   This bill would require the representative to file with the
department an executed statement of the collectively bargained wage
rates for the particular craft, classification, or type of work
involved.  The bill would provide that employer payments for per diem
wages are deemed to include apprenticeship or other training
programs authorized by an existing provision of law so long as the
cost of training is reasonably related to the amount of the
contributions.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:


  SECTION 1.  Section 1773 of the Labor Code is amended to read:
   1773.  The body awarding any contract for public work, or
otherwise undertaking any public work, shall obtain the general
prevailing rate of per diem wages and the general prevailing rate for
holiday and overtime work in the locality in which the public work
is to be performed for each craft, classification, or type of worker
needed to execute the contract from the Director of Industrial
Relations.  The holidays upon which those rates shall be paid need
not be specified by the awarding body, but shall be all holidays
recognized in the applicable collective bargaining agreement.  If the
prevailing rate is not based on a collectively bargained rate, the
holidays upon which the prevailing rate shall be paid shall be as
provided in Section 6700 of the Government Code.
   In determining the rates, the Director of Industrial Relations
shall ascertain and consider the applicable wage rates established by
collective bargaining agreements and the rates that may have been
predetermined for federal public works, within the locality and in
the nearest labor market area.  Where the rates do not constitute the
rates actually prevailing in the locality, the director shall obtain
and consider further data from the labor organizations and employers
or employer associations concerned, including the recognized
collective bargaining representatives for the particular craft,
classification, or type of work involved.  The rate fixed for each
craft, classification, or type of work shall be not less than the
prevailing rate paid in the craft, classification, or type of work.
   If the director determines that the rate of prevailing wage for
any craft, classification, or type of worker is the rate established
by a collective bargaining agreement, the director may adopt that
rate by reference as provided for in the collective bargaining
agreement and that determination shall be effective for the life of
the agreement or until the director determines that another rate
should be adopted.
  SEC. 2.  Section 1773.1 of the Labor Code is amended to read:
   1773.1.  Per diem wages shall be deemed to include employer
payments for health and welfare, pension, vacation, travel,
subsistence, and apprenticeship or other training programs authorized
by Section 3093 so long as the cost of training is reasonably
related to the amount of the contributions, and similar purposes,
when the term "per diem wages" is used in this chapter or in any
other statute applicable to public works.
   For the purpose of determining per diem wages for contracts
entered into with the state, the representative of any craft,
classification, or type of worker needed to execute the contracts
entered into with the state shall file with the Department of
Industrial Relations an executed statement of the collectively
bargained wage rates for the particular craft, classification, or
type of work involved. The statement of rates shall be filed within
10 days after the rates have been negotiated and thereafter may be
taken into consideration pursuant to Section 1773 whenever filed 30
days prior to the call for bids.
  SEC. 3.  Section 1773.8 of the Labor Code is repealed.
  SEC. 4.  Section 1773.9 is added to the Labor Code, to read:
   1773.9.  (a) The Director of Industrial Relations shall use the
methodology set forth in subdivision (b) to determine the general
prevailing rate of per diem wages in the locality in which the public
work is to be performed.
   (b) The general prevailing rate of per diem wages includes all of
the following:
   (1) The basic hourly wage rate being paid to a majority of workers
engaged in the particular craft, classification, or type of work
within the locality and in the nearest labor market area, if a
majority of the workers is paid at a single rate.  If no single rate
is being paid to a majority of the workers, then the single rate
being paid to the greatest number of workers, or modal rate, is
prevailing.  If a modal rate cannot be determined, then the director
shall establish an alternative rate, consistent with the methodology
for determining the modal rate, by considering the appropriate
collective bargaining agreements, federal rates, rates in the nearest
labor market area, or other data such as wage survey data.
   (2) Other employer payments included in per diem wages pursuant to
Section 1773.1 and as included as part of the total hourly wage rate
from which the basic hourly wage rate was derived.  In the event the
total hourly wage rate does not include any employer payments, the
director shall establish a prevailing employer payment rate by the
same procedure set forth in paragraph (1).
   (3) The rate for holiday and overtime work shall be those rates
specified in the collective bargaining agreement when the basic
hourly rate is based on a collective bargaining agreement rate.  In
the event the basic hourly rate is not based on a collective
bargaining agreement, the rate for holidays and overtime work, if
any, included with the prevailing basic hourly rate of pay shall be
prevailing.
   (c) If the director determines that the general prevailing rate of
per diem wages is the rate established by a collective bargaining
agreement, and that the collective bargaining agreement contains
definite and predetermined changes during its term that will affect
the rate adopted, the director shall incorporate those changes into
the determination.  Predetermined changes that are rescinded prior to
their effective date shall not be enforced.
  SEC. 5.  The Legislature declares that the intent of Section 1773.9
of the Labor Code, as added by Section 4 of this act, is to give
effect to Assembly Concurrent Resolution No. 17 of the 1997-98
Regular Session of the Legislature (Res. Ch. 34, Stats. 1997) by
codifying the methodology for calculating the general prevailing rate
of per diem wages.  In Assembly Concurrent Resolution No. 17, the
Legislature declared that it "has relied on the long-established
definitions of general prevailing rate of per diem wages in amending
and extending the prevailing wage law contained in the California
Labor Code on numerous occasions, and that it would be contrary to
the intent of the Legislature for those definitions to be changed by
administrative action, because the definitions have become
incorporated by implication into these statutory provision."
